---
title: But, sire, I can only accept such an alliance if you give me your pr… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: But, sire, I can only accept such an alliance if you give me your promise to assist me with your counsels." Who acts: sire, you, your. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 26, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/26/27/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Arabian Nights Entertainments](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/) / [Opening, part 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/26/) / 27

# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 26, sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But, sire, I can only accept such an alliance if you give me your promise to assist me with your counsels."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sire, you, your · **What happens:** accept, give, assist, promise · **To what, where:** alliance, promise, me

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 26. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sire, you, your), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg128:26:27
# text = But, sire, I can only accept such an alliance if you give me your promise to assist me with your counsels."
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
3	sire	sire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	accept	accept	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	11	det:predet	_	_
10	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	alliance	alliance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	give	give	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
15	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	iobj	_	_
16	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	promise	promise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	assist	assist	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl	_	_
20	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	counsels	counsel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **accept** | can | sire | such alliance |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent alliance=Theme |
| 2 | **give** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | your promise | me |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient promise=Theme |
| 3 | **assist** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | your promise *not said here* | me |  |  | with your counsels | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent i=Beneficiary with counsel=Theme |
| 4 | **promise** |  | your |  |  |  |  |  | nom promise «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 128 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/26/26/)
- next →: [sentence 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/26/28/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/26/)